Denial
by mississippimudpiecraves
Summary: First stirrings of attraction. ShikaTema.
A/N: This was requested months ago by a friend. Hope you guys enjoy!

For once, laziness did not have a hold of him this day. Willingness to train her and his friend with a new ninja sparring form shone in his dark eyes and his straighter-than-usual posture.

Observing him guiding Chouji with shrewd teal eyes, she watched as the genius arched his arms about in a certain flowing pattern of movements as Chouji countered as taught. Fierce concentration held her entirety as she made sure she did not miss a single move or countermove. Determination to be the better student burned a strong will within. Being a fast learner was something she prided herself in and this day would not be any different than those times Baki gave her lessons.

Folding her arms against her chest with a critical expression on her face, she traced their forms with her eyes. She took note of certain advantageous angles of attack and counterattack, the way their feet made the slightest of pivots while staying rooted, the way their torsos bent accordingly.

While they discussed about the pros and cons of the technique, she mentally absorbed all the details so that it would prepare her for her turn. The main objective was redirecting, he stated. She further added in her mind, to disturb the other's center of gravity.

After a bout of silent sparring, Shikamaru turned to Temari and asked for her assistance in displaying a certain aspect of the technique to Chouji. She had expected it since he had already mentioned that he would do so from the start.

He instructed her to stand with her back against the wall. Which she did. Then he placed his hands tightly on her shoulders. Gripping them securely so that she was incapable of moving in any direction.

He had to have been leaning forward to achieve this. His head hovered over hers in this stance. The space between them did not even reach an arm's length.

In that moment, she could not really explain what transpired. But her breath caught and her chest seemed to constrict. Startled, she looked up into his eyes. She became overly aware of the closed distance and the way his eyes bore into hers. His hands on her shoulders seemed to gain in weight and rose in temperature.

It felt as if the air around them was sucked into a vacuum and their surroundings faded into a blur.

It was completely unnerving. Not to mention, very untimely and wholly irritating.

This never happened before. Not with him, not with anyone else.

And she was not even exactly sure what this was.

She would not acknowledge it as stirrings of lust. It was not possible, not with him.

"Try to get out," his voice cut through her thoughts.

Mentally shaking her head in order to focus, a little angry at herself, she pushed forth with all her strength to move him back. And succeeded. She held back a smug grin at his slightly chagrined face.

He said with a hint of defeat, " _Strong_. Okay, never mind, let's switch then."

Placing his back against the wall, he told her to place her hands on him. She followed as she put her hands on his shoulders.

With a surprising burst of energy, he shook his head as he grasped her by the wrists and deftly pulled her hands down to his chest. Furthermore, he pushed her hands firmly onto his chest as if reaffirming her strength of will.

Her mind seemed to blank out. For a moment or two. Her hands might have trembled the slightest bit. What in the world was wrong with her? It was just a man's chest. Her hands fought not to curl in on themselves.

"Push as hard as you can. Don't let me escape," he warned as he let go of her wrists.

Redirecting that fury towards him, she shoved with all the force she could muster, with all reserves of physical energy she possessed.

That was when he spoke, "See, Chouji, this is how you escape with the new sparring form." Somehow he lowered his stance to a slouch so that he managed to subtly escape her vengeful hands. To taunt her further, he kept on demonstrating the escape from side to side as if the sheer force behind her hands was nothing.

After the demonstration, he and Chouji continued to practice. With a freshly renewed determination to beat the lazy genius, her teal eyes fiercely locked onto their every movement.

She had quickly discarded whatever silly notions of attraction she might have had earlier.

When Chouji grew tired, Shikamaru asked Temari if she wanted to try it out next. She nodded firmly.

They took their stances and began. At first, the wind shinobi's arm movements were too stiff so Shikamaru would quietly coach her to relax her arm as it created the needed circular movements against his arm. He guided her round and round until he felt she was ready for the next step which was when he started to be on the offense.

Several times he had her stuck in a position wherein she was unable to get herself out and he had to show her how to escape. It was unbearably humiliating yet she conceded to the fact that she was still learning thus she allowed it.

There was however one move he made where he managed to tip her over not dissimilar to that familiar romantic scene where the gentleman would dip the lady over his arm before bestowing a kiss. It seemed like her pulse paused in that crucial moment. For the life of her, she could not move. There was at least two seconds of that agonizing, embarrassingly offensive move before he gently touched the small of her back and pushed her back up into the starting stance.

His face remained passive as ever. She, on other hand, could not pinpoint what was causing her ears to heat up. However she kept her battle face on the whole time, a hard persevering mask containing her struggling feelings and thoughts. Just as she was taught in emotion training.

Eventually, she was rapidly catching onto the dynamics of the sparring form and was able to trade off the circular movements with him in a graceful manner.

He gave a nod of approval as they finished their round of practice.

And she could not help but ask, "How did I do?"

"Actually... impressive."

She could not help but smile. Next time, she would defeat him.

Those silly unwarranted emotions? She clearly only imagined them.


End file.
